Leadership Communication
Practice papers
Leadership communication:
A status report
Received (in revised form): 8th February, 2002
David Clutterbuck is chairman of item, which he co-founded 19 years ago, making him one of the most experienced consultants and practitioners in the internal communications business. He is a visiting professor at Sheffield Business School and a frequent speaker on communication subjects all over the world. He has also researched and written widely on management and strategic issues, with over 40 book titles to his name, including ‘The Winning Streak’, ‘Everyone Needs a Mentor’ and ‘Doing it Different’.
Sheila Hirst is an executive director of item and head of consultancy. She entered the internal communication profession in 1989, having previously worked in sales and marketing with Citibank. At item Sheila has been responsible for change and communication programmes with ASDA, Royal Bank of Scotland and Littlewoods among many. She has also worked in-house as director of internal communications and change for a global telecomms company undergoing significant change. Sheila is on the board of the International Association of Business Communicators.
Abstract Although management is often viewed as distinct from, and sometimes inferior to, leadership, the two share a number of core competencies. Communication is central to the main four management competencies outlined by Warren Bennis: the management of attention, meaning, trust and self. To be truly effective, both leaders and managers must develop their self-awareness, become role models for communication in the organisation, and learn to encourage and manage constructive dissent. An important part of the communication professional’s role is to support the organisation’s leaders and managers in developing their communication competence.
KEYWORDS: leadership, strategy, vision, management, communication competence, skills development
David Clutterbuck
The ITEM Group plc,
Burnham House,
Leadership communication:
A status report
Received (in revised form): 8th February, 2002
David Clutterbuck is chairman of item, which he co-founded 19 years ago, making him one of the most experienced consultants and practitioners in the internal communications business. He is a visiting professor at Sheffield Business School and a frequent speaker on communication subjects all over the world. He has also researched and written widely on management and strategic issues, with over 40 book titles to his name, including ‘The Winning Streak’, ‘Everyone Needs a Mentor’ and ‘Doing it Different’.
Sheila Hirst is an executive director of item and head of consultancy. She entered the internal communication profession in 1989, having previously worked in sales and marketing with Citibank. At item Sheila has been responsible for change and communication programmes with ASDA, Royal Bank of Scotland and Littlewoods among many. She has also worked in-house as director of internal communications and change for a global telecomms company undergoing significant change. Sheila is on the board of the International Association of Business Communicators.
Abstract Although management is often viewed as distinct from, and sometimes inferior to, leadership, the two share a number of core competencies. Communication is central to the main four management competencies outlined by Warren Bennis: the management of attention, meaning, trust and self. To be truly effective, both leaders and managers must develop their self-awareness, become role models for communication in the organisation, and learn to encourage and manage constructive dissent. An important part of the communication professional’s role is to support the organisation’s leaders and managers in developing their communication competence.
KEYWORDS: leadership, strategy, vision, management, communication competence, skills development
David Clutterbuck
The ITEM Group plc,
Burnham House,
References: Machiavelli, N. (1967) ‘The Prince’ (trans. G. Bull) Penguin, London. Townsend, R. (1970) ‘Up the organisation’, Michael Joseph, London. Tannenbaum, R. et al (1960) ‘Leadership and organisation’, McGraw-Hill, New York. Harvey-Jones, J. (1994) ‘Making it happen’, Harper Collins, London. Bennis, W. and Nanus, B. (1985) ‘Leaders’ Harper & Row, New York. Goldsmith, W. and Clutterbuck, D. (1997) ‘The winning streak Mark II’, Orion London. Clutterbuck, D. and Lazidou, D. (2001) ‘Communication competence and business success: A Kernaghan, S., Clutterbuck, D. and Cage, S. (2001) ‘Transforming internal communication’, Business # Henry Stewart Publications 1363–254X (2002)